Category Archives: H. July 2011

With the news that the Indians were very much in on the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes, it’s tempting to believe that the Tribe will go out and get the next big thing on the trade market. Whether it’s B.J. Upton, Hiroki Kuroda or even Ubaldo Jimenez, with the Indians only a few games out of first place, it’s nice to believe that we’ll make a big splash in the next few days.

Yet I believe that we’re more likely to end up with a player like Conor Jackson.

The hard truth is that the 2011 Cleveland Indians aren’t built to win now. This year’s team was meant to be a transition from the doldrums of 2009 and 2010 to competing in 2012. Read More…

Monday night, Buster Olney tweeted that: “White Sox GM Kenny Williams is talking about turning over entire roster.” For Indians fans, this should be treated with enthusiasm. While that doesn’t mean that we can count the White Sox out of it, if they’re talking about turning over their entire roster, it’s safe to say that the AL Central race will likely come down to the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians.

Taking it one step further, maybe the Indians can use the White Sox’s misfortune to improve their own lot. Teams don’t normally make trades within their own division, but White Sox GM Kenny Williams isn’t just any normal GM. Williams tends to make the deals he feels are best for his club, other consequences be damned. This could help out the Tribe.

If the Indians offer the right package, maybe they can upgrade their roster with one (or more) of the White Sox players that have been killing them all year. Our top four prospects should be safe (Drew Pomeranz, Alex White, Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis), but no one else should be bolted down. If Williams wants any other two (or so) prospects, we should make a move.

Since the Tribe’s biggest needs are starting pitching and an outfield bat, let’s take a look at what the White Sox could potentially send to Cleveland. Read More…

With the coming of the trading season, one thing is for sure: Billy Beane will be active.

Among his more valuable assets are outfielder Coco Crisp and pitcher Rich Harden. With neither signed past 2011, it’s a safe bet that Beane will try to get some prospects back for these players before July 31.

Why not just send them both to Cleveland?

After the injuries to Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore and the underproduction from Fausto Carmona and Mitch Talbot, the Tribe have major needs in the outfield and the rotation. With the team contending for the playoffs, they could use major upgrades in those two positions.

Sure, it’d be nice if the Indians would go out and get Carlos Beltran and Hiroki Kuroda (the best batter and pitcher on the market), but this is Cleveland; we’ll probably go the cheap route.

Harden and Crisp fit the general pattern of the Tribe trade quite well. Harden can never stay healthy, which has driven his price tag down. Crisp, though a very good player, isn’t even the most talked about trade chip on his own team (that honor would belong to Josh Willingham).

Yet, it still makes sense for the Indians to go out and acquire these two players. Read More…

Based on the fact that Jason Kipnis is fresh off participating in both the AAA All-Star game and the Futures game (where he hit a lead-off home run off top Braves prospect Julio Teheran), it appears that all of baseball recognizes how good Jason Kipnis is.

I’ve been on the Jason Kipnis bandwagon for a long time, but I do understand the patience involved in promoting Kipnis to the big league club. Calling him up before the season (and thus bypassing the AAA level entirely) would’ve only made sense if the Tribe wasn’t competing in 2011.

Obviously, the front office knew this team could surprise people and planned accordingly, signing Orlando Cabrera. Turns out putting off promoting Jason Kipnis before the season was the right choice.

For all of the hate that has gone Beltran’s way in recent years, he is still a very productive player. His .287/.381/.512 slash line, .893 OPS (147 OPS+), 14 HR, 59 RBI, 3 SB and 3.1 WAR have made him arguably the best bat available at the deadline this year.

Unfortunately, that level of production causes his cost to rise. The word on the street right now is that it’ll take a “top prospect” to get Beltran. Typically the Indians avoid these kinds of deals. ESPN’s Buster Olney said as much when he tweeted this on July 16th:

“A perfect fit for CLE (and other teams, too). But can’t see CLE giving up Grade A prospect for him, if Mets keep to that price.”

The next day, though, Olney tweeted that the door is still open for the Tribe:

“If the Mets pay down the salary of Carlos Beltran, that means that every interested team is in play, including CLE.”

Basically, if the price goes down, the Indians are in on the Beltran sweepstakes. This is probably for the best. The Indians aren’t built to win in 2011, so all of this overachieving is icing on the cake. There’s no point mortgaging the future for two months of Carlos Beltran.

If the price goes down, however, the Indians should do everything in their power to acquire Beltran. Read More…

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The once elite talent and future of the Cleveland Indians has slowly but surely become just another failed dream.

Like many who came before him (Joe Charboneau, Herb Score, Andy Marte, etc.), it seems that Sizemore will never fulfill his great potential.

Or will he?

Many Indians fans are sick of Sizemore and want to see him traded at all costs. Over the past two weeks, there have been three articles published on Bleacher Report (one from Cory Holibaugh, another from Chris Zanon and a final one from Robert Gartrell) on potential Sizemore trade scenarios. I even wrote one way back in December on prospects we could potentially get in return.

Despite the public outcry for Sizemore to be traded, I don’t think we should get rid of him. I think that, collectively, we’ve lost track of how serious Sizemore’s knee surgery was. Read More…

The Cleveland Indians may have fallen out of first place in MLB‘s AL Central Division going into the 2011 All-Star break, but their 47-42 record is nothing to sneeze at. Before the year, the Indians were supposed to compete with the Kansas City Royals for last place in the Central; instead, they’re contending for the playoffs. Even if the Tribe have tailed off recently, it’s still better than the last few years.

Though the Indians have done well, everyone on the team hasn’t contributed evenly to the overall success of the team. Some have added a lot to the team; others would help the Indians more by going away.

With that in mind, here is the Indians’ active roster ranked from 25th to first. (If you want to see my previous rankings, you can see the preseason ranks here and the ranks at the 40-game mark here.)Read More…